A Whisper in My Ear
by ErieDragon
Summary: A private meeting at the Honke. Honda Tohru was a simple girl who wanted three simple things: friends, family, and love. When Akito is a growing shadow and the cat, the mouse, the dog and the dragon are all competing for one poor heart, no one will win.


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A Whisper in My Ear

That day, Tohru had worn her nicest clothes, but despite her efforts knowing her simple tight-knit yellow sweater and pale, long, flower-print skirt could never compare to the elegant, traditional garb everyone appeared to don around the main house. She fidgeted in the silence, sitting in the wide, empty room with either set of doors--those leading inside and those leading outside--closed.

Maybe Akito finally wanted to erase her memory. Though she couldn't pinpoint why, Tohru was nearly shivering with guilt that she had, in fact, committed some terrible error that she wasn't aware of. First she would be justly punished; then she would lose all remembrance of everyone in the Souma family that she had come to love.

It was too sad to ponder.

Tohru nearly jumped out of her skin when the panel doors slid open behind her and unusually light feet pattered through the entrance. Too afraid to turn and somehow show disrespect, she waited for the robed visitor to approach her from the side. When he paused there she lifted her head.

Akito, in fact, was not looking at her, but had his eyes focused on the opposite end of the room where the outdoors sat on just the other side. He seemed momentarily dazed--making Tohru wonder for his health--but proceeded past her without casting her a spare glance. With a flutter of his oversized clothing he settled on the floor just opposite of where she kneeled.

"Honda Tohru," he murmured with a face completely devoid of emotion. His hair seemed to move in a nonexistent breeze.

Tohru bowed her head to the floor. When she raised her eyes to him, he looked amused.

"Are you frightened?"

"No, Akito-san," she replied. Akito fought the urge to raise one eyebrow at the confidence in her voice. She may have been meek, but was never anything but aware of how she felt, he noted.

"I called you here today," he began, and seeing her flinch almost unnoticeably, smiled with a lopsided smirk, "to ask you why you even came." When Tohru looked confused, he raised one finger to silence a response he knew she wasn't going to make until she was sure he was through speaking. It was a precaution. "For four years you have lived in the home of Souma Shigure, under the wing of the great Souma family, defying all the laws of the curse of the Jyuunishi by knowing our secret." He paused thoughtfully. "However, you have never once said a word. You have never once made an error, you have never once done anything to waver the trust those silly animals have in you."

There was silence between them. Tohru, not sure whether to be flattered or wonder if there was something more ominous ahead, some point that he was working towards, clamped her hands together on her lap. Akito had merely stopped to gather his thoughts before going on.

"When I first called you here, it was to tell you that as soon as you had graduated you would no longer be welcome in this family. You would leave, voluntarily, and never, ever return. Then life would resume as it had always been.

"But as I'm growing older and I realize how quickly I am traveling towards death, I realize that every effort towards stopping you and your inane influence would be a worthless one. Somehow, like an irritating pest, you have wormed your way so deeply inside that removing you would be more of a hazard than merely keeping you around--even if just for novelty. I know now that even being afraid of you will not change anything within this family, this family that was falling apart but is now slowly coming home again.

"I cannot welcome you, but I can no longer stop you. So I called you here today to tell you in person I have granted Hatori permission to ask your hand in marriage. Whether you accept or do not accept is without issue; but I hope that, perhaps, I can leave with someone guarding my stupid, beloved animals."

Tohru sat in complete silence as Akito rose to his feet with a slow and deliberate movement, and left with the same slow pattering of sadly light feet. The door slid closed behind him. A few moments later the girl stood up and folded one hand over the other.

She left through the back door. It was the quickest route to Hatori's villa.

Halfway through opening the panels Tohru paused and turned back. She knew in a sad part of her heart that Akito had given her his blessing--not because he finally approved--but because…

He was already dead.

He had known. Akito sat on his futon and laid down, and took a few deep breaths before he gave up the fight.

Tohru sat down, wrapped her hands around her knees, and cried. She cried for the life lost, she cried for the pain and suffering he had withstood, but she cried for the love she had long given up.

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All right, here it is. This is this thing that I wrote because I muchly enjoy the Tohru/Akito interaction (for anyone who has read Light in My Life, you'll understand).

There's a whole backstory to this that I have a vague idea of but am not really interested in writing. As the school year starts I'm looking for a new project, and since I can't seem to find answers in much, I think I'll resort to Fruits Basket. I'd like to hear what you think!


End file.
